Houston Astros clinch final AL playoff spot

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ryan Pressly had no interest in waiting to see if the Astros would get the help they needed to clinch the last spot in the expanded American League playoffs after the Houston reliever couldn’t finish it himself when he was a strike away.

The Los Angeles Dodgers pitched in anyway by beating the Angels to give Houston a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason, and a shot at redemption after the offseason sign-stealing scandal that tarnished a 2017 World Series championship.

Joey Gallo’s run-scoring fielder’s choice in the 10th inning completed a 5-4 victory for Texas as the Rangers rallied from a run down in each of the last two innings Friday night, starting with Ronald Guzman’s two-out, two-strike solo homer off Pressly in the ninth.

“Who cares?” Pressly, who had his fourth blown save in 16 chances, said of staying up to see what happened with the Angels, before LA lost. “We’ve got to take care of business first.”

Actually, they don’t. The Astros (29-29) just had to wait a couple of extra hours to wrap up second place in the AL West, which became official with the Angels’ 9-5 loss.

Now Houston can start planning for a wild-card matchup that could be against Oakland, which ended a three-year run atop the AL West for the defending AL champion.

Currently the only one of eight AL playoff qualifiers in the pandemic-shortened season without a winning record, the Astros will try to put the cheating scandal behind them, but with an injury-plagued roster missing ace Justin Verlander, young slugger Yordan Álvarez and possibly closer Roberto Osuna.

Houston will be led by the first manager to take five different franchises to the playoffs.

Dusty Baker was hired just before spring training after AJ Hinch was fired almost immediately after Major League Baseball suspended him for a year over the cheating scandal. Baker has already taken San Francisco, the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati and Washington to the postseason.

“We were so close to clinching it,” Baker said before the Angels lost. “It doesn’t hurt any more than the rest of them. But there’s nothing we can do now.”

Alex Bregman homered in the sixth and had a sacrifice fly that put the Astros ahead 4-3 in the top of the 10th. Houston’s first run came on George Springer’s RBI triple.

Nick Solak matched Bregman’s sacrifice fly to get the last-place Rangers even in the bottom of the 10th. Gallo’s grounder was fielded by José Altuve, but the second baseman’s desperate throw home was wide, allowing pinch-runner Andrew Romine to score and ending Texas’ four-game losing streak.

Bregman was as disinterested as Pressly about what was going on two time zones away.

“I’m going to go to bed,” Bregman said. “I’m going to call my family and just try to get a good night’s sleep and come back ready to play tomorrow.”

Enoli Paredes (3-3) walked Isiah Kiner-Falefa to start the Texas 10th, and the bases were loaded with no outs after first baseman Yuli Gurriel’s throw to second was wide on a sharp grounder from Willie Calhoun.

Brett Martin (1-1) got the win, giving up a single to Kyle Tucker after Bregman’s sacrifice fly. The right-hander got out of the inning on a popout from Gurriel, who put the Astros ahead 3-2 in the eighth on a soft single inside the bag at first with Guzman playing well off the line on a shift.

Guzman’s fourth homer of the season for the 3-3 tie in the ninth barely cleared the wall down the line in right.